Pages

Wednesday, 1 December 2010

Law of Succession now published

It's endured a delay in publication, but Sir Iain Moncrieffe's The Law of Succession is finally available for sale as of today. I've been fortunate to have had a chance to read it earlier in the year - here's my review a few months back from Discover my Past Scotland's September issue:

The Law of Succession
Sir Iain Moncrieffe of that Ilk

Subtitled ‘Origins and Background of the Law and Succession to Arms and Dignities in Scotland’, this is the first publication of a thesis written in 1958 by the late Sir Iain Moncrieffe of Moncrieffe.

At almost 300 pages in length, the book is structured in two sections, the first dealing with succession in the time of the Picts, the Cymry, the Gaels and the Norse, and the latter dealing with inheritance of earldoms, baronies, peerages, the monarchy and the Heirs at Law to Arms once Scots Law had taken root.

Since it was first written, only two major statutes have concerned the area of law within which arms and dignities are legislated for (concerning succession in 1964 and feudalism in 2000) and both went largely out of their way to avoid dealing with arms and dignities. Moncrieffe’s thesis is therefore as relevant now as it was over 50 years ago, and even in an unpublished format has been cited as a definitive text on the subject in various court cases.

If you are new to the subject, a dictionary of Scottish legal terms will help, but this is one of the publishing events of the year.